Kinshasa was a village on the south bank of the Congo when Stanley passed through in 1877. He returned in 1881 and established Leopoldville on the banks of contemporary Kintambo and Ngaliema. A post was opened upriver at Kinshasa in 1883. In 1923 Leopoldville was named the capital, comprising both Kinshasa and Leopoldville, established at Kalina (now Gombe), while "old" Leopoldville remained the capital of the Province. The Leopoldville-Kinshasa agglomeration was renamed Kinshasa in 1966.

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Monday, May 22, 2017

Many versions of Kinshasa’s history (including the
summary banner on this blog’s homepage) typically begin with Stanley’s arrival at
Pool Malebo near the end of his cross-continental journey in 1877. Another narrative
opens in 1881 when Stanley returned to the Pool under contract to Belgian King
Leopold II and established a station at Kintambo to support exploration
up-river.Stanley encountered and
described to the European world the existence of extensive settlement around
the south bank of the river.While
Stanley’s journalistic opus contributed significantly to the early written
history of Kinshasa, subsequent archeological work has confirmed the existence
of numerous pre-historic settlements along the banks of the river (See Jan. 17, 2012).

Monument to Henry Stanley, erected 1956

Long before Stanley’s arrival, in fact, there had
been a number of prior visits and written accounts by Europeans describing the political,
socio-economic and settlement patterns at the Pool.As early as 1652, Jerome de Montesarchio, a Capuchin
monk from Mbanza Kongo near the Atlantic reached a village called Binza near the
Pool and learned of a Chief Ngobila residing on the river who was a tributary
of Chief Makoko.The monk observed an
active market served by long-distance traders and noted that the houses were
made of grass.

In May 1698 another mission led by Fathers Luca da Caltanisetta and Marcellino d'Atri reached the Pool.They claimed to have baptized Chief Makoko,
but reported the existence of superior chief, Lemba, who was the “seigneur”
over all chiefs in the area. In 1705 other Capuchins returned, and reported a
settlement they called “Etchintambo”.

A map of western Congo and Angola from the 1720s. The location of the Congo River is remarkably accurate.

The place names in these historical records
vary considerably, partly due to the fact that there was not yet consensus on
the European spelling of African words and each observer and informant drew
upon their cultural and linguistic traditions to transcribe the words they
heard.For instance, Ngobila, one of the
Bateke chiefs, was also recorded as,
Ntsulu, Chuvila, Ntshuvia, Nchuvira, Nchuvila, Nchubila, Tchoubila, Tsobila, Subila.The
early visitors also used the chief’s title (Ntshuvia) rather than name (Nkunda)

A Bateke village near Leopoldville.

No further written records
describe the settlements on the Pool prior to Stanley’s arrival, but it is
evident that during the 18th and 19th Centuries, the
Humbu and Teke had developed extensive trading relations with the European
entrepots on the estuary of the Congo River at Boma, Banana, Noqui, and Sao
Antonio do Zaire.These links were
facilitated by intermediary exchanges with Bakongo traders.

The original residents of the
south bank of the river, the Bahumbu, occupied numerous small villages of
100-300 persons, each under its own chief. In contrast to the Bateke and other migrants
involved in long-distance trade, the Bahumbu were farmers, producing manioc,
sweet potatoes, corn, bananas and pineapples and engaged in fishing to provide
protein in their diet.Charles Liebrechts,
Chief of Leopoldville Station from 1887-1889, further observed that they were
only armed with flintlock guns, as opposed to more modern rifles available to
the Bateke traders. (Bontinck’83:)

Another Bateke settlement

When Stanley first arrived at
the Pool in 1877 at the end of his epic transcontinental journey, he described
the presence of two settlements on the south bank, Ntamo and Nshasa, based on
his encounter with two Bateke Chiefs who came across the river to meet him. It wasn’t until Stanley returned to the Congo
to establish what became Leopold II’s Congo Free State and made his way to the
Pool in 1880 that he understood that the Bahumbu, not the Bateke, were the
actual proprietors of the lands along the river and that there were numerous
other villages along the river and inland, in addition to Ntamo and Nshasa.

Meanwhile, two British
Baptist missionaries, Bentley and Crudgington, were making their way up from
the river mouth, following Stanley’s rudimentary caravan road and then forging
on ahead, reaching the Pool in January 1881 (See Mar. 5, 2011). They spent the night at Kintambo, then walked to
Kinshasa the next day. They did not observe
any villages along the way, but on arrival at Kinshasa were challenged by
Africans in French naval uniforms who claimed a concession from Makoko. This confrontation, combined
with a generally unwelcome reception from the local population, prompted the
missionaries to return to Kintambo.

An early map by BMS Missionaries Grenfell and Comber showing settlements on the Pool.

Stanley’s rival, French explorer Savorgnan de
Brazza had, in fact, reached the Pool via contemporary Gabon the previous
September, signed a treaty with Chief Makoko on the north side of the river (now
Congo Brazzaville), and left a small military
detachment under Senegalese Sgt. Malamine at Nshasa, Bateke Chief Ntsulu’s village,
on the opposite bank.The advent of the
two European powers introduced a new dynamic to the local political equation.

deBrazza's agent, Sgt. Malamine, confronts Stanley.

An artist's depiction of the Pool and Stanley's settlement (center, foreground)

When Stanley finally completed his road to the Pool in July 1881, he
needed to establish a base of operations to support further exploration
upriver.He turned first to Chief
Ngaliema at Kintambo, who he met on his earlier voyage. Kintambo was a Bahumbu settlement but under
the control of Ngaliema, a Muteke from the north side of the Pool. The site was
an important market for trade in ivory.Initially, Ngaliema was resistant to Stanley’s offer, but when he
learned that Chief Ntsulu of Kinshasa had offered a site along what is now the
main port along Ave. des Wagenias, came back with a counter offer and Stanley
established his first station at Ngaliema where Chanic and the National Museum
are today (See Mar. 13, 2011).Nonetheless, in a ceremony confirming the
concession for Stanley’s station in December 1881, Chief Makoko of Lemba made
very clear that the Bahumbu were the proprietors of the land on the Pool.

Stanley's station at Leopoldville - 1885.

About this time, Bentley and Crudgington
visited Lemba’s town and observed,

“The houses were built in a
different manner from those we had hitherto seen.Instead of the sharp, slanting roof with an
eave, the houses had semi-circular roofs which were continuous with the side of
the house. They were thatched with grass, but the seed-stem formed the outer
layer, giving the house an appearance as though covered with fur”.

Baobabs were usually planted in the villages around Kinshasa.

The positive relationship with the new European arrivals did not last
long. By 1885, the Makoko was starting to block caravans of food destined to
supply the European station at Kintambo, now known as Leopoldville.In January 1886, Congo Free State troops from
Kinshasa attacked, looted and partially burned Makoko’s village at Lemba.
Ngaliema immediately confirmed his loyalty to the Europeans and offered to
serve as a mediator with the Makoko.This initiative did not bear fruit and eventually, an agreement was
reached at Kinshasa brokered by Chief Kimpe.

In June of following year,
Baptist missionary Holman Bentley visited Makoko’s village at Lemba.He followed a well-built road leading south
about 9 kilometers from his mission station at Kinshasa. (See Jan. 14, 2017) Received by the Makoko, he toured the village with
one of the Chief’s sons, observing that it was an extensive settlement
comprising numerous groupings of four to eight houses separated by bush.The Makoko’s compound comprised 12 dwellings,
one for each of his wives. Bentley had a
number of cordial discussions with the Chief, gaining an understanding of the
history of the Bahumbu on the Pool. The next day, Bentley continued east to the
Ndjili river and the village of Ngwa Lulala. From there he continued to
Kimbangu (Masina) and finally Mikunga.

A fanciful depiction of the Nsele River, from Bentley's book (1887)

Nonetheless, and notwithstanding
other visits from European authorities, relations with the Humbu chief remained
strained and in 1888 the colonials burned Lemba to the ground.The Makoko relocated to Lumeta (pronounced
Limete in Lingala) one kilometer up the Ndjili River from Masina.The Makoko died in 1907.In that year the colonial authorities created
a Chefferie called Masina, comprising the villages of Limete, Kingasani and
Lemba.It will be recalled that Ngaliema,
chafing under colonial rule, relocated to the Brazzaville side of the Pool with
his Bateke followers in 1891. The same year, Chief Bankwa of Ndolo had also
moved to the northern side of the Pool.In 1907, Chief Lekibu of Kingabwa (Ndolo) moved his village further up
the river due to pressure from the growing European town of Kinshasa.The site is now occupied by the SEP Congo
fuel tanks behind the rail yards.

The Bahumbu and Bateke's characteristic housing was a theme for Guillerme Marques.

Across Kinshasa today, local
place names such as Binza, Kingabwa, Kinshasa, Kintambo, Lemba, Limete, Masina,
Mikonga, Ndjili, Ndolo, Ngaliema and Nsele attest to these pre-colonial
settlements.

Lemba

Blvd. Lumumba in Limete

The Commune office in Masina

A view of Ngaliema Bay from the terrace where Stanley built his original station at Leopoldville.